Socializing My New Semi-feral

[Tobermory]

Mocha likes to smell Iris’s feet just to annoy her, and sometimes she tries to nibble on them which causes Iris to grumble at her. Iris isn’t really growling, just complaining. “MOM! MOM! She’s pickin’ on me!” I don’t think she minds that much.

Mocha also has started with the love nibbles, but she never bites, just gently puts her teeth on the side of my hand as I rub her jaw and cheek. It’s never gone beyond that so I don’t say anything.

One of the cats at the place I volunteer, though, is a big rough boy, and he gets carried away. I watch his body language very carefully, and when he opens his mouth, I pull back slowly and say calmly, “No biting. No biting.” Then I wait a bit and reach out to pet him again. Usually after a couple of times, he gets the message.

 

[dustydiamond1]

A typical day in their relationship... Chai being incredibly ridiculous and Chilli being incredibly longsuffering...

View attachment 260783
View attachment 260784

Great photos for these threads too
Post Your Bird's Eye View
and
Goofey Faces
Gypsy makes a similar goofy face:

 

[rosegold]

One of the cats at the place I volunteer, though, is a big rough boy, and he gets carried away. I watch his body language very carefully, and when he opens his mouth, I pull back slowly and say calmly, “No biting. No biting.” Then I wait a bit and reach out to pet him again. Usually after a couple of times, he gets the message.

This is basically what I’ve been doing, so that’s helpful to hear! I got a pretty painful cat bite in the hand from another cat a few months ago—had to go through antibiotics and everything—so I think I’m a bit more cautious about bites than I used to be. But I think it might help Chai if I act more confident, and make sure not to jerk away quickly. She is learning to trust me, so I owe it to her to trust her too!

 

[rosegold]

Great photos for these threads too
Post Your Bird's Eye View
and
Goofey Faces
Gypsy makes a similar goofy face:
View attachment 260876

Gypsy is adorable!

 

[rosegold]

With all the mats out and some daily
combing and good food, someone’s looking a whole lot more like a cat model these days (and less like a ragamuffin )

I love this cat so much. Her personality is so, so cute and sweet... Hey, we’re only a month and a half into adoption, I’m still allowed to gush constantly over my “new cat,” right?

 

[dustydiamond1]

Gypsy is adorable!

 

[dustydiamond1]

With all the mats out and some dailycombing and good food, someone’s looking a whole lot more like a cat model these days (and less like a ragamuffin )
Such a beautiful girl who has come sooo far sooo quickly, thanks to such a clever momma and a wonderful sister
I love this cat so much. Her personality is so, so cute and sweet... Hey, we’re only a month and a half into adoption, I’m still allowed to gush constantly over my “new cat,” right?

Oh most definitely! However. there is no time limit on 'gushing'

 

[rubysmama]

She is beautiful. And I agree with dustydiamond1 , gushing has no time limit.

 

[Avery]

Yep, all in agreement! Chai is a beautiful cat and gushing can go on forever! One of my cats (the baby of the semi-feral cat I just brought inside) is three years old and SO handsome! I tell him all the time how handsome he is! And anyone else who will listen!

 

[rosegold]

Yep, all in agreement! Chai is a beautiful cat and gushing can go on forever! One of my cats (the baby of the semi-feral cat I just brought inside) is three years old and SO handsome! I tell him all the time how handsome he is! And anyone else who will listen!

Aww, let’s see a picture of him!

 

[dustydiamond1]

Aww, let’s see a picture of him!

 

[rosegold]

Before & after... January 2018 (in the shelter) vs November 2018.

Back when I was pining away to adopt her (for almost NINE MONTHS!!), I used to look at that first photo almost every day, as it was the best one I had at the time. And of course I would show it constantly to all my patient friends and family members I remember how she was bold enough to come out of her hiding spot while I took that photo, and at the time I thought, 'wow, she's doing so well and being so brave!'

But now when I look at it, it seems like a completely unrecognizable cat to the one in the second photo. It's painfully clear how terrified and unhappy she was back then. I'm also glad that I renamed her. Her shelter name, "Iris," was actually a lovely name that I quite like, but after so many months I would've always associated it with that first picture. Unadoptable shelter cat is "Iris." Happy, dorky, carefree cat in the second photo is most definitely "Chai."

 

[rosegold]

And how could I forget to post a video of the "marching muffins"?

 

[rubysmama]

Those difference in those pictures is like night and day. Amazing transformation!

 

[dustydiamond1]

Before & after... January 2018 (in the shelter) vs November 2018.

View attachment 261084
View attachment 261085

Back when I was pining away to adopt her (for almost NINE MONTHS!!), I used to look at that first photo almost every day, as it was the best one I had at the time. And of course I would show it constantly to all my patient friends and family members I remember how she was bold enough to come out of her hiding spot while I took that photo, and at the time I thought, 'wow, she's doing so well and being so brave!'

But now when I look at it, it seems like a completely unrecognizable cat to the one in the second photo. It's painfully clear how terrified and unhappy she was back then. I'm also glad that I renamed her. Her shelter name, "Iris," was actually a lovely name that I quite like, but after so many months I would've always associated it with that first picture. Unadoptable shelter cat is "Iris." Happy, dorky, carefree cat in the second photo is most definitely "Chai."

 

[dustydiamond1]

And how could I forget to post a video of the "marching muffins"?

 

[e_l_green]

On the picking up front, that's common for many cats, not just ferals or former ferals. One of my cats loved being picked up and cuddled basically from day one, the other did not despite being otherwise a friendly and loving cat. I took it slow. First I got him accustomed to being cuddled while being petted. Then once he was accustomed to that, I got him accustomed to having one arm under his front paws while he was getting petted. Then after a while of that, I got him accustomed to that arm slowly raising a couple of inches while he was being petted. Finally I got him accustomed to having his back legs on my other arm while his front legs were on my front arm while he was getting petted, then over time slowly got it to the point where I could lift him off the bathroom counter (which was the only place I had high enough to conduct these experiments) for a few seconds at a time, then put him back down while petting him and telling him what a good cat he was. It took a couple of months, altogether, but now I can pick him up and hold him for a few minutes. And of course I tell him he's such a good kitty and pet him while doing so! After a few minutes he gets squirmy and wants to be put down, but that's all I need anyhow, is to be able to pick him up for long enough to transport him to his carrier without him freaking out.

 

[rubysmama]

e_l_green : Welcome to TCS. We have a New Cats on the Block forum if you'd like to tell us about yourself and your cats.

 

[rosegold]

I saw elsewhere on this forum that you can try hissing at your cat if it bites you. It seemed a little odd to me, but since Chai's biting has been getting more and more frequent, I tried it. And it worked like a charm! I've tried "ow!" and "no" but neither had a very good result--but hissing quietly at her worked perfectly. I've only had to do it a few times and she's already MUCH better. I was worried it would make her scared of me, but it didn't at all. She immediately stops biting, and just blinks/squints and puts her ears back a little (which I'm guessing is a submissive gesture as she does that Chilli is annoyed with her). And then when I reach out to her again she happily keeps rubbing on my hand more gently without any biting.

After the 'biting lesson,' I was able to pet her for a good long time this morning. She was soooo happy and purring constantly. She really craves affection. I think she would prefer receiving it from Chilli instead of me, but she'll take what she can get.

Besides, Chilli was VERY grouchy with her today. There's been quite a few smacks and hisses. I think she just has some pent-up energy since I haven't been playing with the cats as well as I should. I'm going to try to settle their routine to include intentional, daily interactive play for both cats. After I played with her for a while, she walked over and did a nice friendly nose touch to Chai (perhaps an apology for smacking her on the head )

 

[rosegold]

I'm so glad the teeth are coming out in two weeks. Chai is doing okay but definitely isn't feeling 100%. In particular I've noticed her SMELL getting worse, I assume from her gross mouth licking all over her body. Also, now that she wants rubs and pets 24/7, I have to keep washing my hands as they smell pretty bad after touching her! I'm brushing her coat daily and it seems to help as she still isn't cleaning her sides or back very well, and her fur gets quite greasy and tacky.

She also hasn't had the best appetite lately. Well, at least not for wet food. She still runs over and meows like crazy whenever she hears kibbles. Usually I give the cats about 85% wet food and an occasional kibble snack. But I don't think she's eating enough of the wet food. So I guess she gets extra kibbles for the next two weeks! I do notice her drinking water after eating kibbles, so hopefully she is getting enough water intake. I noticed her poops were kind of small, but maybe that was just from not enough food rather than constipation.

I thought cats with stomatitis or mouth issues tend to prefer wet food, but she really strongly prefers kibbles (whereas she was eating both well before). I think it's because they are smallish and she practically inhales them, whereas with the wet food it requires a lot of licking/chewing/slurping to clean her mouth afterwards, which perhaps is more painful.

Lately it seems like she's in pain to me. Even though she is still playing and purring and generally doing okay, there are times when she gets in a loaf position and closes her eyes and my cat-mom senses are telling me she isn't feeling fantastic. I know there's not much more I can do right now but keep giving her the steroids and trying to make her comfortable, and I know the vet is just a text away for advice if she starts going seriously downhill. But it's hard to watch.

On a nicer note, though, today I practiced petting her on her chest/stomach by reaching under as though I were going to pick her up. I didn't lift her at all this time, but after a few tries she was pretty tolerant of me touching her there. She's also been extremely lovable in the mornings, and will basically rub her face on my hand for as long as I let her. This morning she was purring and starting to get sleepy and ended up just smushing her forehead into my hand and falling half-asleep like that. It was super cute!